Jake stared death in the face, and realized that he no longer had the strength to resist. The pain in his leg was overwhelming, and it had quickly sapped what little strength he had left, so that all he was able to do was hang limply in Moloch’s grasp and meekly wait for what he knew was to come.
As the beast’s jaws came slowly closer, Jake braced himself for the pain. The mocking scorn in the creature’s laugh told him it would be anything but swift and painless.
The teeth descended.
Katelynn was riding in the back of Damon’s Bronco, listening only vaguely to the conversation going on between Sam and Damon when it happened. Her left hand held the necklace Gabriel had given her, sliding the stone back and forth on the gold chain on as she gazed out the window nervously, praying they would be on time. When the stone first glimmered with the faint flickering of red light from deep within, she didn’t immediately notice. It was only several moments later, when the faint glow suddenly flashed into blazing incandescence in the blink of an eye, filling the back seat with its eerie red glow that she did.
Katelynn felt a faint tickling in the back of her mind, a sensation she barely noticed over her surprise at the light emanating from the stone. When that tickle turned abruptly into pain, like two great icy hands squeezing her mind between them, she realized that she was in trouble. By then it was already too late, for she only had time to gasp softly in pain before the darkness that had begun swimming on the edges of her vision rushed in like the swell of the tide and she lapsed into unconsciousness without uttering a word.
The first sign that Sam and Damon had that anything was wrong came when they felt something violently strike the back of their seat. Turning to investigate, Sam almost caught Katelynn’s next kick full in the face. As it was, he was struck high on his shoulder with enough power to elicit a sharp grunt of pain.
'Holy shit!' was all he managed to utter in surprise.
The rear seat was filled with a deep scarlet glow that sprang from the stone clenched tightly between Katelynn’s fingers, a bright, lurid light that made everything it touched seem to be drenched in a thick tide of blood. In the middle of this, Katelynn thrashed back and forth violently, lashing out with her feet, slamming her sweat- drenched head from side to side against the leather of the seat, obviously in the grip of some kind of bizarre convulsion.
For one long moment, Sam could only stare.
The Sheriff glanced back over his shoulder and, seeing the weird light and the seizure that held Katelynn securely in its grip, he reacted with the quickness of years of training.
He skidded to a stop on the shoulder of the road abruptly enough to toss Sam against the security of his seatbelt. Damon was out of the car and opening the rear door to get to Katelynn before Sam even realized they had stopped.
For her part, Katelynn felt a sudden, sickening swirl of light and color, and the sensation of falling down a long dark well where she found herself looking through the eyes of the Nightshade.
Directly into Jake’s face.
He was there, no more than three inches in front of her, and she could tell by his position that the beast must be holding him in its grasp. Jake’s face was covered with a fine sheen of sweat, his brow contorted with pain. The Nightshade continued to stare directly into his face, so Katelynn was unable to see the rest of Jake’s body to determine how badly he was hurt, but at least he was still alive.
The question was, for how long.
The two of them stood that way for what seemed like hours to Katelynn, but what in reality was only a few seconds, before Jake’s eyes suddenly popped open and she found herself staring into their depths. Her heart cried in anguish at the intense pain she could see reflected within them; he was suffering, there was no question of that. Along with the pain, Katelynn could see the blaze of his anger and determination; a wave of emotion that caused those usually gentle eyes to go icy blue with resolve. Jake was still fighting, but Katelynn wondered how much longer he could keep it up.
They had to get there in time!
Suddenly, she sensed a third presence in the link, one that emanated from the Nightshade itself. It was aware of her presence in return, might have even pulled her into the link intentionally, for the waves of anger and fury that were directed at her almost swamped her.
A realization came to her; the necklace worked in both directions! As long as she had it, the beast could seek her out in turn, at any moment, any time it liked, and could pull her into the twisted depths of its mind.
Before she could react to that knowledge, the beast suddenly plunged both her and Jake into the well of its memories.
She came to in the back of the Bronco, with the doors open on either side and Sam and Damon leaning in to help her. When they saw that she was conscious they released her and backed up slowly, the concern on their faces evident.
'Sam!' she cried, grasping his arm tightly. 'We’ve got to keep moving. The Nightshade has Jake!'
Sam didn’t have time to answer. Damon was already sliding behind the wheel, and Sam had to hustle to keep from being left behind. In seconds the car was moving, speeding toward Riverwatch.
Chapter Thirty-four: A Fiery End
In the end, it was Loki who saved him.
Jake was unable to move, frozen in place by the pain radiating out from his left leg and the mental weight of knowing that no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop the beast.
As those savage jaws descended, Jake gave himself up for lost, and sent a quick prayer skyward that his friends would take his death as a sign to get out of town as quickly as they could.
As he felt the Nightshade’s hot, fetid breath on his face and heard the rumble of eager anticipation in his ears, Jake turned his face away, unable to face his own destruction. In doing so, he caught a flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye, and watched in spellbound fascination as Loki hurtled through the doorway, aimed for the Nightshade’s back.
Loki’s form seemed to glide through the air in slow motion, all grace and power, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a vicious snarl of ferocity and rage; 140 pounds of solid muscle aimed at the thing which threatened his master.
As Loki reached the zenith of his leap and arced downward his paws extended before him to absorb the impending impact. Jake found the energy to wrench free from the creature’s grip and fall to the floor.
He was just in time.
The Nightshade’s jaws snapped shut with an audible clack in the space where Jake’s face had been only seconds before.
The beast whipped his head around d, following Jake’s motion instinctively, and in the cold gleam of its eyes Jake could see the raw, undiluted hatred as the beast realized that his prey had managed to elude its fate.
Before it had time to act on that knowledge, however, Loki slammed into it from behind, driving its body against the wall with incredible force.
Something snapped with a loud crack and the beast roared with pain.
Jake moved along the wall, away from the vicious confrontation happening behind him. Pain welled up from his leg and his feet didn’t want to cooperate with what his mind was telling them, yet he managed to put several feet between him and the Nightshade. A voice in the back of his mind was wondering just how Loki had managed to get loose from the Jeep, but he ignored it, knowing he was still in incredible danger and needing to concentrate on finding a means of escape.
He had to find some way to stop the beast long enough that he and Loki could get out of the confines of the garret and into the rest of the house where they might be able to lose the beast and escape with their lives.
Behind him, the beast roared in anger. The answering snarl of fury let Jake know that Loki was still alive and fighting.
He looked around desperately, trying to find something to stop the beast, even if it was for only a short time.
